Connie "Lovely" Jackson
Connie "Lovely" Jackson was a contestant on Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 13th place. Personality Lovely was a nice, cuddly person. In the kitchen, however, she was a consistently poor performer, was often very slow, overcooked food before service began, took long breaks during services, and also took an extensive amount of time to bring tickets as a waitress. All of these factors led to her teammates turning against her, which led to her elimination. Season 6 Episode 1 After receiving some tips from Jean-Philippe and former Hell's Kitchen contestants, Ramsay ordered all the chefs to cook their signature dishes. Before tasting the signature dishes, Ramsay announced that for the first time ever, the Signature Dish Challenge would occur as a regular team challenge, with each contestant going head-to-head. During Amanda's turn, Lovely could not believe she was trying to get Ramsay have a shot of tequila, asking if she was kidding. She was the seventh person of the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Andy. It was unknown what she made, but seemed like a hamburger dish with fries. Neither she or Andy scored a point. During Sabrina's turn, she wished Lord to have the win as she wanted a prize. The red team lost the challenge 2-3 and was punished by cleaning both kitchens ahead of the opening service the following night. They were also served Bologna sandwiches for dinner, and after their punishment, the women came up to the dorms and found their uniforms, knives, and cookbooks, which they had to learn by heart. The next morning, during prep, the women were already going full steam ahead and were confident as they studied the menu the previous night and rested. However, minutes before service opened, Ramsay found already overcooked fondants on the red team's hot plate, which Lovely admitted she cooked, and Ramsay got confused, stating she already screwed it for her team before the restaurant even opened. During dinner service, Lovely was on the appetizer station with Melinda. At one point, she had to trash overcooked pasta in the bin because Tek sent unacceptable scallops to the pass. She saying that she would make sure to be synchronized with Tek so they could bring all the appetizers together. Her communication with Tek was not getting better as service went on, and because of the red team's inconsistency, she had to redo her first order of appetizer eight times. She trashed a lot of pasta in the process, which led to the infamous pasta incident involving Melinda. After that, she went to the back store to sit and drink water. She revealed she drank a total of four bottles of water because her body was craving hydration. Despite her absence, her team began preparing entrées, and eventually, she made a heroic return 45 minutes later. Her team asked if she was okay, which she answered she was, and got back to work. However, shortly afterwards, Ramsay shut down both kitchens. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay declared to Lovely that she was running out of time, the red team was declared losers for serving no entrées at all, and were asked to nominate two people for elimination. While being dismissed, she declared she did not know who her team would nominate as they all performed badly. During deliberation, she was considered by Tennille, but she said that she would fight for her place, and stated that she admitted her mistakes and was a strong chef on the team. Tennille recalled her leaving for 45 minutes during service, and in the end, the red team deliberated over her, Melinda, and Amanda. Lovely was not nominated for elimination, even though Amanda said she should have been, and after Melinda left, she welcomed Robert in her team, as a new teammate. Episode 2 Back in the dorms, Lovely compared Robert to an angel coming down from Heaven when he was giving the red team some tips on how to properly cook the food. The next morning, both teams got down in the blue kitchen, where Ramsay introduced the Shrimp Cleaning Challenge. Lovely was forced to sit out to even the teams at 7 members each, and during the challenge, she decided to act like a cheerleader for her team, by clapping her hands and telling them to keep on going. But, she was more annoying them than anything. The red team lost the challenge 44-45, and they were punished by cleaning shrimps and segmenting lemons, removing every seed from all of them, all day long, for a shrimp cocktail during the next dinner service. During the punishment, Lovely broke an awkward silence after an argument between Suzanne and Tennille, by asking what time it was and when would they eat lunch. When the blue team came back from their reward and picked the red team in the kitchen, she suggested them that they could make some dinner. During dinner service, Lovely was on the fish station. When she was cooking her first scallops, her stove was still off. Ramsay told she could not cook without gas, she threw Tek under the bus, saying she told her it was on, and apologized to Ramsay. Later, she sent her sea bass to the pass, but it was raw, and Ramsay schooled her for that. She denied that mistake, even blaming Ramsay's vision and age, but on her second attempt, her sea bass was burnt. Ramsay angrily threw the sea bass in the bin, and she had to start over. After a lot of struggle in both kitchens, Ramsay ordered both teams to send shrimp cocktails to the dining room, and shut down both kitchens. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay named both teams losers, and asked them to nominate two people each. During deliberation, Lovely was considered by Suzanne because of her burnt sea bass, but she declared she did not make any fatal mistakes, such as serving a pregnant woman something that was raw, referring to Tennille's mistake. Lovely was the red team's second nominee for elimination, with Tennille being the first. The elimination was delayed until the following episode because of the infamous Joseph incident. Episode 3 After Joseph's departure, Lovely was called down with Tennille, and joined Tony and Andy from the blue team. She survived elimination, and said goodbye to Robert, who has just been transferred to the blue team. Back in the dorms, the chefs went to bed, trying to get some sleep, but very early in the night, alarm bells started to go, Sous Chef Scott, holding a flashlight, told everybody to get out of the restaurant immediately as an emergency was called. Then, fire trucks arrived to Hell's Kitchen and the chefs got outside. But, Ramsay was standing with the firefighters, revealing that it was a fire drill. He introduced the Firefighter Pasta Meal Service Challenge, and all the chefs got back in the dorms to change. During the challenge, Lovely was on the garlic bread station. When Ramsay called the first ticket, she failed to call him back as she was still fast asleep, so Ramsay asked her to. Then, she declared that she was not a morning girl and that because she did not pee, brush her teeth, and wash her face, she was not together yet. When Ramsay asked her for a time on the garlic bread, she answered two minutes as it was in the oven. 20 minutes into service, her bread still had not gone out, and Ramsay berated her for that, telling it was not lovely anymore and that it was irritating. He asked her how much time she needed on bread, which she answered she was checking it. Finally, she received help from Ariel and bread finally started to go out. The red team eventually won the challenge, and she celebrated with Suzanne, while comparing the win to smacking the blue team's butt. They were rewarded with a day at the Pacific Water Spa, in Huntington Beach, California, as well as a helicopter ride to get there. The next day, when both teams were lined up, Lovely was dedicated to be a waitress by Ramsay. When service started, she welcomed the guests, along with Dave, in the dining room. She had a lot of trouble doing her job during the night because she was messing up her orders. Then, Jean-Philippe came over and told her to hurry up and get a special bottle of wine in Ramsay's office. She went there, got the wine bottle, ran downstairs, and Ramsay called her to get her ticket. He schooled her on the fact that she took 42 minutes to get her first ticket to the kitchen, calling her an imbecile in the process, which she said she got verbally spanked. Despite her problems, both teams managed to complete dinner service. When both teams were lined up, Lovely was reminded that she took nearly 45 minutes to bring a ticket to the kitchen by Ramsay. The red team was declared losers for having a 81% above average rating from the customers, compared to the blue team's 83%, and Ariel was named "Best of the Worst". Lovely was Ariel's first nominee for elimination, with Tennille being the second. She survived elimination, and while being dismissed, she declared she was not going anywhere because Ramsay wanted her to be there. Episode 4 While being dismissed, Lovely declared she was still in the competition because Ramsay loved her ass, and that he wanted her to realize that she could do it. During the Sausage Strings Challenge, Lovely was paired with Tek. Together, they got two sausage links accepted, with their last one clinching the victory for the red team 6-4. They were rewarded with a lunch at Old World Village, for a Oktoberfest style party. During dinner service, Lovely was on the garnish station with Ariel. She sent unseasoned garnishes over, and Ramsay pointed out that all she done so far was turn and stir. However, because of Sabrina's help, she was able to send a better serving of garnishes. Later on, Ramsay asked her what the next entrée was, but she could not answer him, and a distraught Ramsay called her oblivious. The red team eventually lost the service, with Ramsay informing her that they lost due to the sides. Sabrina was named "Best of the Worst". Lovely was Sabrina's second nominee for elimination, with Tek being the first. During her plea, Ramsay called her more laid back than an ironing board, but she argued that she was moving quicker than what Ramsay saw. However, Ramsay eliminated her for being nominated three times in a row, her slow performances, and making constant excuses. Ramsay's comment: "If people were named for their cooking, her name wouldn't be Lovely. It would be Useless." Nomination history Trivia *At age 23 (33 now), she is the youngest of the season. *After her appearance on the show, she became a celebrity chef, joined a a three month national campaign with Sears in 2010 entitled the Sears Chef Challenge, became the owner and Executive Chef of her own restaurant called Lovely Eats, and offers catering, personal chefs, live cooking demonstrations, and culinary instruction. She also became a contestant on Food Network Star season 9 were she came in 6th place. Quotes *(About Amanda's signature dish) "Are you kidding me? Why would you do that?" *"Told you all, Chef Ramsay loves my ass." *"I got verbally spanked!" *(After being eliminated) "The diva has to leave. But I'm going to take all of these experience, all these tough times and going to keep moving forward. It's not lovely leaving Hell's Kitchen." External Links * Category:Chef Category:Season 6 Category:Illinoisans Category:13th Place